Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen (5 September 1775 – 16 July 1815) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

Life and education

Gehlen was born in Bütow,

Farther Pomerania Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (; ), is a subregion of the historic region of Pomerania in north-western Poland, mostly within the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, while its easternmost parts are within the Po ...

(now

Bytów Bytów (; ; ) is a town in the Gdańsk Pomerania region of northern Poland with 16,730 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bytów County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. In the early Middle Ages a fortified stronghold stood nea ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), he is known as the publisher of ''Neues allgemeines Journal der Chemie'' (1803–1806), ''Journal für Chemie und Physik'' (1806-10) and the ''Repetitorium für die Pharmacie'' (first series; later continued by Johann Andreas Buchner). In 1804, he noticed that when a solution of uranium chloride in ether was exposed to sunlight, it quickly changed colour from bright yellow to green and precipitated. He studied at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

and obtained his residency in 1806 from the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

, where he worked as a chemist in the clinical institute of

Johann Christian Reil Johann Christian Reil (20 February 1759 – 22 November 1813) was a German physician, physiologist, anatomist, and psychiatrist. He coined the term psychiatry – ''Psychiatrie'' in German – in 1808. Reil was one of five children, and was th ...

. From 1807 to 1815, he served as an academic chemist at the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...

. He died from

arsenic poisoning Arsenic poisoning (or arsenicosis) is a medical condition that occurs due to elevated levels of arsenic in the body. If arsenic poisoning occurs over a brief period of time, symptoms may include vomiting, abdominal pain, encephalopathy, and water ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

on 16 July 1815, age 39.The Formation of the German Chemical Community, 1720-1795
by Karl Hufbauer

References

Sources

* * 1775 births 1815 deaths Chemists from the Kingdom of Prussia People from Bytów People from the Province of Pomerania 18th-century German chemists 19th-century German chemists 18th-century German publishers (people) University of Königsberg alumni University of Halle alumni {{Germany-chemist-stub